The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1887-07-02

Nhoo u III - uOlo6 anu ohhdil plNNoH
like the red worm that he called fire.
cracker. After he had got so lie could
speak again, and as he was going of,
he said
Just remember that every egg you
lay, Dame Partlett, will have a whole
bunch of fre-crackers like that in itr'
Perhaps you can imagine what
state Of mind l was in Could it be
possible that my eggs would contain.
such dreadful things as thatP But I
had to lay, and take the chances, az
though for the first few days cut and
run the instant the egg was in the nest,
for fear something dreadful would hap
pen. Fritz was near by every time,
and he grabbed the egg and ran off
with it as soon as ever left il. Posi-
bly, he. too, was afraid fire-crackers
would come out of the eggs before he
could get them to his hen-house with
the green blinds.
After awhile, when | found that
nothing unusual happened to my eggs,
! felt it was my duty to raise family
of chickens. If there is any thing
sweeter and dearer than a nestful of
baby chickens, l don't know where
you will find it. Other hens of my own
coop were bringing up the loyeliest
families-why shouldn't IP So one
day just said l would. The first thing
was to find place where that awful
boy couldn't get at it. | found the
incest spot for nest right under the
stable, where the straw and chaff had
sifted down through. Then I went to
work to fill it with eggs Ihad much
trouble to keep out of the wayof Fritz,
and every time he saw me and found
there was no egg in my old nest, he
said things that did not understand,
and think it was probably more com
Portable for me that did not
At last had my nest full of most
beautiful eggs, and then determined
to stay right with them all the time
till | should hear my babies peep their
first little peep Twoaorj three times
the thought came to me; "What if
they should really hatch out frightful
things like the one Fritz threw at mep"
But couldn't believe it, possible that
my eggs would have so little respect
for their mother as to do that. ,--a
| u The second day that stayed with
my nestful of eggs, I had to leave for a
fewminutes to get drink and bite
to eat. While l was out in the yard,
| who should 1 see but Fritz poking
1 around in a way that made me nerv-
Gus. AS soon as l thought he was not
looking | hurried into the hole that
led to my nest, but when | got there
what doyou suppose foundP Fritz
had lifted up plank right over the
2 nest, and was taking out the precious
eggs Te, p Hns2rsl .asab
2 "Ah. ha, Mistress Slyr' he said.
Thought you'd cheat me out of
dozen eggs, did youP But caught you
Just in time to save them@five times
twelve are SIXTY. dozen lunches of
fire-crackers in one nest! Amt you
ljust patriotic, thought I'll show you
tomorrow what Fourth of July means.
just to pay up for sheakingr'
81 If had not been so distressed at the
robbery of my nest, Ishould have
thought more of his threat, although,
of course, | could only guess what he
) intended to do.
The next morning was walking
around, broken-hearted, when Fritz
and several other boys came to the
barnyard, where was talking with
the other ladies and gentlemen of my
acquaintance. 'h
'Therer' said Fritz ptheres the old
, hen that laid my Fourth of July, got
over two dollars for her eggs. She
= tried to hide away dozen, but found
them yesterday, and so was sixty cents
ahead. She didn't know they were
loaded with tire-crackers!" ..s..
With that they all laughed.
Nov let's let her see what her eggs
Matched out for me!' i..
And with that Fritz and the other
boys began 10 IHIoW dI US lnoSe Hltle
red worms that went Sizzle bang :
until l thought we would all die OF
= fright. soon found safe place
+ under the shed, where stayed till the
J boys had gone But | shall never be
thankful enough that Fritz took those
u eggs from my nest before they Matched;
for if they had gone siEEIe hang =
81 while l was covering Them where
u would have been nowp--E. H. TrGf
Il ton, IN Christian Union.